Hinge assembly

ABSTRACT

A HINGE, PARTICULARLY OF THE TYPE EMPLOYED IN SECURING TOILET SEATS, AND TOILET SEAT COVERS TO TOILETS, IS PROVIDED WITH A COVER MEMBER WITH CAN BE READILY REMOVED FOR ACCESS TO A SCREW, BUT WHICH IS DESIGNED SO AS TO MINIMIZE THE CHANCE OF ITS BEING INADVERTENTLY DISLODGED FROM ITS ASSEMBLED POSITION.

March 9, 1-971 HALDOPOULOS 3,568,221

' HINGE ASSEMBLY Filed April 9, 1969 .FIG.1

INVENTOR.

BY Ioakim Haldopoulos jflad/m ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,568,221 HINGE ASSEMBLY Ioalnm Haldopoulos, Louisville, Ky., assignor to American Standard Inc., New York, N.Y. Filed Apr. 9, 1969, Ser. No. 814,669 Int. Cl. A47k 13/12 US. Cl. 4-240 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge, particularly of the type employed in securing to let seats, and toilet seat covers to toilets, is provided wlth a cover member which can be readily removed for access to a screw, but which is designed so as to minimize the chance of its being inadvertently dislodged. from its assembled position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention This invention relates to a hinge assembly, and more particularly to a cover member for toilet seat and seat cover hinge assembly.

Description of the prior art Toilet seat hinger have been employed for many years and many structures have been proposed which provide for the toilet seat and/ or seat cover to be removed from the portion of the hinge which is relatively permanently fixed to the toilet bowl.

One problem encountered with the prior art structures is that special tools or dexterity is required in order to disassembly a unit. Another problem which is encountered is that the units come apart too easily, and either come apart accidentally or are so loose as to permit excessive wobbling of the unit.

US. Pat. No. 3,449,774, to Wilham, discloses a hinge assembly which can be secured to a toilet bowl by means of a screw driver and which eliminates the need to employ any other tool, and overcomes the forenoted probems.

It is essential, however, that such hinge assembly be free of crevices, grooves, or the like which can harbor dirt and prevent the thorough cleaning of the toilet and related devices. The use of cover member for the hinge assembly presents a difliculty, in that it must be capable of being firmly and securely locked in place, but at the same time must be readily removable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has now been found that through the use of integrally formed resilient projections on. the hinge coller, and cooperating regions on the hinge body, a toilet seat hinge can be provided with a cover which is easy to remove when so desired, while at the same time being firmly locked in place.

The toilet seat hinge includes a main body portion which is provided with a hinge pin means and means for attaching the body portion to a toilet bowl. The toilet seat hinge includes a cover which is provided with a plurality of projection receiving regions which correspond with a plurality of resilient projections which extend from the hinge cover member. The toilet seat hinge, main body portion has a relatively flat lower surface which, in use, is in contact with the toilet bowl. A first recess extends at substantially a right angle in front of said fiat lower surface and a second recess extends from the surface of said main body portion which is opposite said flat lower surface. The two recesses are substantially parallel but not coaxial and have a region in which they intersect to form a passage Patented Mar. 9, 1971 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be fully understood as the description of the invention proceeds, particularly when read together with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate similar parts throughout the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a complete assembly;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a toilet seat hinge cover, taken along lines 2-2, of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the hinge cover of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the hinge body portion of the assembly of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the hinge body portion of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIiM ENTS The assembly of FIG. 1 shows a hinge assembly 10 which includes a main body portion 12, a cover or cap member 14, and a fastening assembly or screw member 16.

As shown in FIG. 1 the hinge member can be provided with a fastening assembly of the type disclosed in copending patent application, Ser. No. 613,354, filed Feb. 1, 1967, now US. Pat. No. 3,449,774, issued on June 17, 1969, in the name of Larry Wilharn.

The screw head 18 receiving region or recess 19 of the hinge body 12 is shown covered by means of the cover cap 14. The cover cap 14 has a first downwardly extending projection of pin 22 positioned a short distance from the front end 23 of the cover cap 14. As second projection 24 is substantially rectangular in configuration as viewed in side elevation in FIGS. 1 and 2 and as seen in the bottom view of FIG. 3.

The rear end 25 of the cover cap is provided with a downwardly extending flange 26 which extends outwardly at its lower end, to form a slanted projection 28.

The body hinge 10 is provided with a first inner-wall 44 which cooperates with the projection 24 and a secondopposite-inner-wall 46 which cooperates with the flange 26. When the projections 24 and 26 of the cover cap 14 are forced into the recess region 19, a compression force is developed because the distance between the walls 44 and 46 is less than the distance between the outer surfaces 34 and 36 of the flanges 24 and 26 respectively.

Of even. greater significance is the fact that the projection 28 locks into the passage 58, between the screw head receiving region 19 and the elongated passage or recess 59, as best seen in FIG. 5.

Unique locking characteristics are also achieved as a result of the combination of the pin-like projection 22 and the projection 24. The pin-like projection mates with a receiving hole or elongated passage 42'. The front edge 23 of the cover member 14 is thus firmly held in place as a result of the forces exerted between the projections 22 and 24.

The hinge body portion 12 is provided with a pair of indentations or grooves 41 and 43, as seen in FIG. 4, in order to provide a spacing between the cover 14' and the hinge body 12. The purpose of the spacing is to expose a portion of the unders-urface of the cover member 14, so that an upward force can be exerted on the cover 14, in order to separate the cover 14 from the main body portion 12 when desired.

It should be noted that it is critical that the cover member be made of a resilient material. Thermoplastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene acetal polymers and the like as best suited for this application.

It should also be noted that the main body portion 12 is designed in such a manner that it can readily be molded by conventional plastic molding techniques.

For example, the narrow passage 42 which is designed to receive the pin-like .projection 22, is axially aligned with a wider passage 52, so that the pin-like portion of the male mold which forms the passage 42 is not excessively long and fragile.

The recesses 19 and 5 9 intersect to form the passage 58, therefore eliminating the need for an extra machining operation or a complex mold.

Although the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosures is of preferred forms and is made only by way of example, and that various changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts can be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A toilet seat hinge assembly comprising: a main body portion including hinge pin means and means for attaching said main body portion to a toilet bowl and having a relatively flat lower surface;

a first recess upwardly extending substantially perpendicularly with respect to said relatively fiat lower surface;

a second recess extending downwardly from an upper surface of said main body portion which is opposite said relatively flat lower surface, said first recess and said second recess being non-coaxial and having a region in which they intersect to form passage means between said first recess and said second recess;

a hinge cover having a plurality of projections, one of said projections having a flange portion and said projection being proportioned such that said flange portion mates with said passage means between said first and said second recess, and said main body portion having a recess which conforms to and mates with another of said projections.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said hinge cover further includes a third projection, said third projection having a substantially cylindrical configuration and said main body portion has an elongated hole positioned and dimensioned so as to receive said third projection.

3 The structure of claim 2, wherein said projections is a member substantially rectangular in cross-section and having a flat surface which cooperates with a corresponding first inner wall of said second recess, said elongated hole and said corresponding first inner wall of said second recess having a spacing and position slightly different from that of said one projection and said another projection, whereby said one projection and said another projection are under tension when said projections are positioned in place in said main body portion.

4. In a toilet seat hinge assembly which includes a main body portion having hinge means, a relatively flat lower surface, a recess in its upper surface and screw passage means aligned with said recess so that the head of a screw member can be contained Within said recess and the body portion of'said screw member'passes through said screw passage means, and a cover member having a plurality of projections, said projections mating with corresponding receiving regions in said main body portion, the improvement comprising, said main body portion having an elongated passage extending from said flat lower surface toward said upper surface and having a region which intersects said recessthereby forming a passage means between said rece ss. 'and said elongated passage and one of said projections'of said cover member having a flange portion, said projection being dimensioned such that said flange portion fits into said passage means when said cover member is inits assembled position.

5. The structure of claim 4, wherein said hinge cover member further includes a second projection, said second projection having a substantially cylindrical configuration and said main body portion has an elongated hole positioned and dimensioned to receive said second projection.

6. The structure of claim 5, wherein said hinge cover further includes a third projection, said third projection being positioned such that it mates with a first inner wall of said recess, said first inner wall being opposite the surface portion of said recess which contains saidpassage means.

7. The structure. of claim 6,'wherein said one of, said projections is a resilient member and the distance between the outermost surface of said flange portion of said one of said projections and the outermost surfaces of said third projection is less than the distance between said first inner wall of said recess and the surface portion of said recess which is opposite said first inner wall surface portion and which contains said passage means.

'8. The structure of claim 4, wherein said hinge cover first includes a third projection, said third projection being positioned such that it mates with a first inner wall surface of said recess, said first inner wall surface being opposite the surface portion of said recess which contains said passage means.

9. The structure of claim 8, wherein said one of said projections extends resiliently from said cover member and the distance between the outermost edge of said flange portion of said one of said projections and the outermost surface of the third projection is greater than the distance between said first inner wall surface of said recess and the surface of said recess and the surface of said recess which contains said passage means.

10. The structure of claim 9, wherein said cover member is made of an acetal polymer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,050,891 8/1936 Maisch 1614 8X 3,449,774 6/ '1969 Wilham 4-240 FOREIGN PATENTS 642,484 9/ 0 Great Britain 4-240 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner D. B. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 568 221 Dated March 9 1971 Ioakim Haldopoulos Inventor(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified paten' and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4 line 48 cancel "the surface of said recess and".

Signed and sealed this 17th day of August 1971 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JI Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM Po-1050 (IO-59) USCOMM-DC 0031 l ,5. GOVEINIIIHT PRINTING OFFICE I90 0- 

